Oskanian Presents Changes in Constitution to YSU Students

PanARMENIAN.Net - "I would like to address the content of constitutional reforms," Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian stated in the course of a meeting with the teaching staff and students of Yerevan State University. The statement of the Armenian FM specifically said, "I want to briefly present the basic and major changes in the Constitution. Firstly, considerable counterbalances are formed between the three branches of power: Parliament acquires notable power at the expense of reduction of the President's authority. The Prime Minister, who will represent the parliamentary majority, also gets additional power at the expense of reduction of the President's authority. These two circumstances result in enhancement of the Parliament's role, thus increasing the role of political forces and promoting healthy political framework.



Secondly, the constitutional changes promote independence of the judicial structure, strengthen provisions on human rights, becoming more in tune with European standards. A new term - the dignity principle, which was absent in the current Constitution - is put into use in the new Constitution. The current Constitution built upon the principle of individualism, the new one provides for a more institutional system, thus providing for transfer from individualism to institutionalism. There is a new methodic approach in the constitution, European legal thought enters our reality. However, all I have said is not considered as a major factor to say "yes" to the changes, as there are strata in the society, who prefer strong presidential system under the current conditions. The constitutional changes should be viewed at three levels: immediately Armenia, Europe and the Diaspora. From the point of view of Armenia we are compelled to state that we experience a constitutional crisis. The actual constitutional prop of the country, on which the state and society base, is a living and developing body, a beating heart. 5 arteries nourish it: constitutional changes, organic or constitutional changes, frequent comments of constitutional provisions, legal precedents and international legal precedents. 10 years have passed since the adoption of the Constitution and within that period of time no changes were introduced to it during the rapid development process.



The current Constitution does not provide for organic laws, thus this artery is closed. The situation over the frequent comments on constitutional changes is the same, the artery is basically closed here too, as 6 out of the rest of Government and Parliament decisions are submitted to the Constitutional Court to check their compliance with the Constitution. Let me bring a few examples for making a comparison. 2863 decisions were sent to the Constitutional Court in Austria, 2340 - in Croatia, 144 - in Russia, 102 - in Georgia and there are only 6 in Armenia, so decide it yourself. The artery does not provide for the vital activities of the constitutional and legal core. I do not want to speak of Armenian legal precedents owing to known reasons. International precedents are also poor, as no issue concerning Armenia was discussed there and no decisions were passed. Thus, these two arteries are closed. By means of constitutional changes we open the most vivid arteries. On the other hand, by means of those changes Armenian citizens acquire a right to address the Constitutional Court on matters of concern to them. By providing for judicial system independence we open another nourishing tap. The problem, which unfortunately did not appear in the list of discussions on the constitution, is an important issue for further development of Armenia. The European arena. First, let us state that by becoming a Council of Europe member we assumed numerous commitments. Most of these are met. A small part is left and these cannot be implemented without constitutional changes:

1. on making changes and supplements to the Law on the Council of Justice

2. on making changes and supplements to the Law on Status of Judges

3. the Law on Status of Yerevan

4. the Law on the Ombudsperson.

In a word, we assumed commitments to implement constitutional reforms. However the issue is more complicated and exceeds the limits of the law. We merely decided to acquire membership in the European family. Besides, is this respect it is significant that even European structures - without interfering with Armenia's domestic affairs - openly tell our people how important these changes are to Armenia. This, maybe comes from historical approaches, as Europe is interested in us and we and they speak the same language. Thus moving against Europe means moving against our future.



The arena of the Diaspora. Unfortunately this issue was left outside our discussions. The Diaspora is actually an inseparable part of our people. They were found outside Armenia as the fate willed, however they did not stop being part of Armenia. Thus the moral duty of Armenia is to strengthen the ties of the Diaspora with the Fatherland, inspire their belonging to our society and feeling of responsibility towards Armenia. Conditions should be formed for our societies to become closer. As of double citizenship, by denying double citizenship we thus refuse those Armenian citizens, who are in Russia or Los Angeles as the fate willed. Maybe no one in the Government better understand the essence of the problem than I do. Firstly, I have both these identities myself. Secondly, as the Foreign Minister I know well that each day tens of Armenian citizens visit our diplomatic missions refusing their citizenship. Thus, the matter concerns not providing privileges to Armenians that are citizens of other countries, but losing the available citizens. Thus today we do not have any other alternative than repealing the double citizenship ban. Regulation of the dual citizenship by law is another question. After the constitutional reforms the issue will be publicly discussed and all opinions for and against will be heard. I think that everything spoken here clears out the need for constitutional changes both for regulating our internal life and in the aspect of foreign relations."